The country’s economy remained resilient in 2013 despite political instability, mainly due to the positive growth of the export, import, remittance and foreign reserve, Bangladesh Bank (BB) disclosed through a press release on Monday.
Amidst the ongoing world recession and political instability across the country, the national economy and the banking sector were in positive growth in 2013 except for the third quarter of the year, the central bank claimed, reports the Independent.
The positive growth of many economic indicators is still comfortable for the national economy and has also helped the economy remain resilient in 2013, BB said.
However, the economic indicators are facing severe challenges in the last quarter (October to December) of the current year following the ongoing political violence, it worried.
GDP growth was 6.03 per cent in the last fiscal year 2012-13. According to BB data, the country received $ 14.46 billion in FY 2012-13. Remittance flow in the last four years increased by 49 per cent compared to the last fiscal year. In the last five months (July- November) of the current fiscal year, the country received a worth of $ 5.55 billion.
Import expenditure increased by 51 per cent from FY 2008-09, going from $ 22.51 billion to $ 33.97 billion in FY 2012-13. On the other hand, export earning of FY 2008-09 was $ 15.65 billion while it was $ 27.03 billion in FY 2012-13.
The country’s export earnings increased by 72.72 per cent from FY 2008-09. The foreign reserve stood at $ 18.07 billion on December 26, making it the ever highest in the country’s history. As a result, the price of BDT also increased. As on December 26, the dollar rate was Tk 77.75 against a dollar.
Per capita income also increased in FY 2012-13 to $ 1044. The total capital of banks was Tk 503.29 billion on October, 2013.
As on December 2008, classified loan of banks stood at 10.79 per cent while it was 10.03 per cent on December 2013. In the first quarter of the fiscal year 2013-14, the classification amount of banks increased slightly compared to the end of December 2013 due to the political unrest of the country. As on September of the current fiscal year 2013-14, the classified loan stood at 12.79 per cent.
